Speculative, Fashionable, Wearable

Nomination

Daijiro Mizuno, Kazuya Kawasaki

The work aims to speculate on sartorial appearances of the future through blending fashion design and wearable technology.

Urban Play: What if street-hacktivist fashion could redefine the way people play in the urban landscape? Today, street fashion, e.g. for skateboarders, is mixed with location-based augmented reality games to change the way we experience the urban landscape. We speculated about the future where fashion could redefine the way people play in the urban landscapes as a mixed reality.

Computer-Obaachan: What if mass-customizable fashion could adapt to the changing needs of the elderly? Today, we live in a rapidly aging society where every need is one-off and changing. We speculated on the future of garments that could support the changing needs of the elderly beyond physical appearance.

Information Corset: What if self-changing fashion could control our body shape to manipulate the perception of beauty? Historically, women in the Western world manipulated their body shape using garments such as corsets, crinolines, and bustles. Today, we live in a society governed by information technology. We speculated on the post-human bodies that are completely designed through information.

The project is supported by Project Jacquard at Google Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP)

Daijiro Mizuno (JP), born in Tokyo in 1979, completed an MA and a PhD in Fashion Design at Royal College of Art. Daijiro’s research projects speculate about how design can make a positive impact on our society. Daijiro is currently working as an Associate Professor at Keio University Faculty of Environment and Information Studies while working as a freelance design researcher. Daijiro also works as a co-editor in chief of fashion design critique periodical, Vanitas.

Kazuya Kawasaki (JP), born in 1991, is a fashion designer who is trying to create a new era of “speculative fashion”. He designs fashion works that speculate about an alternative fashion industry in order to explore the possibility of fusion between fashion design and emerging technology such as biotechnology and wearable technology. Kazuya’s works have been presented at National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh, 2017), Hong Kong Design Institute (2016, Hong Kong), Design lndaba (2016, Cape town), and AXIS gallery (Tokyo, 2015). He is working as a textile researcher at Poiesis Labs founded by Shiho Fukuhara.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732019. This publication (communication) reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.